Is google losing their edge?

I love Google. I use a number of google applications. Google’s search is and has always been fantastic. I have a gmail account and a picasaweb account. Blah, blah, google’s does a lot of great things and makes my life better. Thank you google!

However, I’m feeling more and more that google just isn’t getting it like they used to. The internet has changed, it grows more dynamic, more personal. But while new sites keep popping up that enable users to do more, google looks the other way. They are building and building, or more likely buying and buying, but they aren’t reaching out, they aren’t connecting. I have two examples of this that I think are very relevant.

First, Blogger. Every blog on Blogger should have an RSS feed. Natively. Period. Authors should have the option to turn them off, but RSS is the real deal, and having to use a feedburner widget is a hassle.

Second, PicasaWeb. I love my picasaweb account. The interface is clean and fast. But the community seems tacked on. And that’s not even my real problem. My real issue is that Google has not built partnerships with other sites. Everywhere you go, you can integrate your flickr data. But with picasaweb, there’s nothing. I can’t go to moo.com and use my existing photos on picasaweb to make cards, I have to select them in iPhoto, export them, and upload them again. Same with sites like <a href=“http://www.ficlets.com>ficlets and dopplr.Hassle!

I keep getting a Microsoft feeling from Google. Like the people who really ‘get it’ have lost to business, marketing, and management. Like they have a 20-year plan and can’t reel it in enough to see what’s actually happening today. Acquire, assimilate, devour.